When The Multiverse Fell

The White Lie

When one died, so did the other.

That was the deal. 

The only way to win was for one to capture the other, or for one to capture the other's SOUL without touching it or killing the other. 

That's what Ink had told them, that's what he said.

It was a lie though. In fact, one of them was destined to kill the other if he didn't. 

It was no harm done anyway. It was only a white lie, and he was only doing his job. So many times Dream or Nightmare had nearly brung the other to nonexistence. They always stopped just in time, though, because of what Ink said. 

They trusted what he said because Ink spoke to the creators and the creators told him the truth because he was the favourite. He was the chosen one. He may be a dickhead, what with being SOULLESS, but if he cared genuinely about something, it was more than likely for the good of the multiverse.

And anyway, if they did kill each other then the creators would become uninterested. If the creators became uninterested, they'd make no more AUs. If they made no more AUs, the AUs Error destroyed wouldn't be replaced, and Ink couldn't protect all of them.

If that happened, Ink would no longer be able to feel things.

He NEEDED feelings.

He NEEDED the AUs.

He NEEDED the creators. 

Either way, he'd saved the multiverse countless times using that white lie, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

He was doing all of them a favour. Every single one of them. 

They should THANK him.

Without him, their precious homes wouldn't exist.

But when the multiverse needed him most, Ink was nowhere to be seen.

The Doodlesphere was closed off, not even the Star Sanses could get in - even if they had been disbanded before this, they were still allowed in.

Not even Core could get in.

Ink disappeared without a trace, and quite coincidentally, so did Error.

Both of them. Core couldn't see either of them.

In fact, they weren't the only ones.

Once Ink had gone missing, Dream set up a search party.

He went missing too, along with Swap and Nightmare and his gang.

It was as if they never existed.

And very soon after that, when Nightmare's gang came back - without Nightmare, timelines went missing.

All of them, until there was only one timeline left from each AU.

Nowadays you had to go to a train station to teleport to these AUs, or you were partaking in illegal AU hopping.

The penalty? Death, execution, way before your time.

Growing your own food, making your own furniture, making your own clothes, heck, even having a child without it being authorised.

They all lead to execution.

Someone new had taken control of the multiverse, and they controlled every aspect of it; from the way you woke up in the morning, to the way you went to bed at the night.

Someone new had taken control of the multiverse, someone evil and destructive, with no one to oppose them. 

They'd taken the multiverse by force in as little as a couple of weeks, without showing themself once, and no one wanted to oppose them.